Relays are thrillingly unpredictable at the best of times, but the World Athletics Relays Guangzhou 25 will take things up another notch with the introduction of a new event: the mixed 4x100m.

Contested during both days of the competition on 10-11 May, the mixed 4x100m will make its global debut in Guangzhou and some of the sport’s biggest names are ready to make sure it launches in style.

Three-time Olympic and 10-time world gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has been named for the Jamaica squad alongside 2011 world 100m champion Yohan Blake, while all four members of Canada’s gold medal-winning men’s 4x100m team from the Paris Olympics are entered for Guangzhou along with their Olympic women’s 4x100m finalist teammates.

A total of 18 federations are listed for the new event, which in Guangzhou will feature a running order of woman, woman, man, man. As well as forming part of this year’s World Athletics Relays programme, the mixed 4x100m will be contested at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest in 2026.

USA and Canada respectively claimed the women’s and men’s Olympic 4x100m titles in Paris last year and both are entered for the mixed 4x100m in Guangzhou.

While certain athletes have been listed specifically for the mixed 4x100m, any athlete named for any event could also be drafted into the squad for another discipline in Guangzhou.

For Canada, that means they have four Olympic relay champions to choose from in Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake and Brendon Rodney, plus Olympic finalists in Sade McCreath, Jacqueline Madogo, Marie-Eloise Leclair and Audrey Leduc.

And for USA, two-time Olympic 200m silver medallist Kenny Bednarek, Courtney Lindsey or Kyree King – who all formed part of the victorious US men’s 4x100m quartet at the last edition of the World Athletics Relays – could combine with Twanisha Terry, who ran the second leg as part of USA’s gold medal-winning women’s 4x100m team at the Paris Olympics, plus 2022 world indoor 60m silver medallist Mikiah Brisco, should they be drafted across having been named in the men’s and women’s 4x100m squads. The team also includes Pjai Austin and Kayla White.

Then there’s Jamaica, which has Olympic 100m silver medallist Kishane Thompson and two-time world 200m champion Shericka Jackson respectively named for the men’s and women’s 4x100m. They could also be included in the mixed 4x100m squad alongside Fraser-Pryce and Blake, plus Ackeem Blake or Natasha Morrison.

Great Britain & Northern Ireland has five-time global 4x100m medallist Asha Philip and European 100m medallist Romell Glave named for the mixed 4x100m, and five athletes from the Paris Olympics – silver medallists Amy Hunt, Desiree Henry and Bianca Williams plus bronze medallists Jeremiah Azu and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake – named across the other squads.

The Italian squads star three of the four Tokyo Olympic 4x100m gold medal-winning team members – Filippo Tortu, Lorenzo Patta and Eseosa Fostine Desalu – together with Dalia Kaddari, Irene Siragusa and Arianna de Masi, who qualified their nation for the Paris Olympics at the last edition of the World Relays in The Bahamas.

The team for the host nation features Olympic relay finalist Chen Jiapeng and Li Yuting, while Nigeria is represented by Olympic 200m finalist Favour Ofili, Udodi Onwuzurike and Favour Ashe.

Other federations in action include Australia, with world indoor 60m silver medallist Lachlan Kennedy and Bree Rizzo, plus Germany and France.

Teams will want to make their mark in this new event, which involves heats on day one before the final on day two, but as they adjust to fresh race strategies the focus could simply be to get the baton around safely.